Community leaders and residents of Irun-Akoko in Akoko North-West Local Council of Ondo State have rejected what they described as an attempt to forcibly install a rival monarch in the community, calling on the state government to urgently intervene to avert a breakdown of law and order.
The community also dismissed an order of mandamus allegedly obtained by an individual laying claim to what they said was a non-existent Oke-Oro stool, insisting that Irun-Akoko is historically and geographically divided into Oke Irun and Odo Irun, which have coexisted peacefully for generations.
Elders of the town, who reaffirmed their allegiance to the recognised traditional ruler, Oba Samuel Agboola, said at a press briefing at the weekend that any attempt to carve out an entity called Oke-Oro was alien and unacceptable.
Led by the Asiwaju of Irun-Akoko, Paul Oguntimeyin, a delegation of chiefs and stakeholders urged and the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to call the individual to order and stop him from parading himself as a monarch.
Oguntimeyin, a retired Permanent Secretary, said the staff of office had been duly presented to Oba Agboola by Aiyedatiwa when he was deputy governor.
“I am appealing to the government to intervene. I cannot become a subject to somebody who just wants to be king. So I am taking this opportunity to appeal to the governor and to the commissioner for local government to please, if there is anybody they want to compensate, find another way of compensating him,” he said.
He added that the community had spent the past few years pursuing development projects, including renovating schools and attracting the Civil Defence to the town, stressing that residents wanted peace to continue.
“We want to have peace and develop our town. The government should not create any problem for us in Irun-Akoko by creating any kingdom for anybody,” Oguntimeyin said.
Providing legal context, a member of the delegation, Olusegun Adu Peters, said the claim of the individual, a prominent politician in the state, had earlier been quashed by the Ajama Panel set up by the state government to look into chieftaincy matters.
Adu said the panel’s white paper did not grant recognition to the purported Oke-Oro stool, adding that there was a subsisting lawsuit before the Ondo State High Court sitting in Ikare-Akoko (Suit No. HCIK/20/CIV/2025).
According to him, the suit challenges the planned recognition of Oke-Oro and seeks to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the substantive matter
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